Black Time with The Monks

The Monks, favourites in tower Junk, are purveyors of visceral garage punk. The group wasted no time in setting out their stall of real punk-ass attitude. Where other groups sang sha-la-la-la-lee, The Monks bellowed "I HATE YOU!"

Black Time, or Black Monk Time, is the masterpiece debut of a bunch of American GI’s who got together in ’64 whilst stationed in Germany. The Monks started off as a very traditional rock’n’roll outfit, but quickly mutated into a pounding, mesmerising full throttle attack of darker than dark punk.

The band wanted to create a sound as grating as possible… so independently from all those art-school boys from the UK, The Monks discovered feedback… which, combined with the bam-bam-backbeat and discordant soundclashes, create a unique and threatening form of rock. ‘Complication’ is as fine a piece of mid sixties punk you’ll ever hear. The lead vox squeal "Complication! Complication!" whilst the seedy underbelly of the backing vocals hum "people cry for you, people die for you…". Back then, it must have sounded as if the four horsemen of the apocalypse had come.

Another stand-out track on the LP is the wonderful ‘Oh How To Do Now’ (which can be seen played live by following this link) which perfectly captures the feel of the LP. Wild eyed, hypnotic, threatening, gonzo gibberish wailed over an all out sonic assault. The dark growl was coupled by a band dressed in fascist black with shaved monk style hair – monolith still. For fans of out there rock than doesn’t neglect the listener, you need this album more than any other. It is a true original – a true masterpiece.